| 释义 |
‖ supernaculum, adv. and n. slang.|s(j)uːpəˈnækjʊləm|
Also 6 -nagulum, -negulum, 7 -nagullum, -naculam.
[mod.L. rendering of G. auf den nagel on to the nail, in phr. auf den nagel trinken to drink off liquor to the last drop.]
A. adv. Used in reference to the practice of turning up the emptied cup or glass on one's left thumb-nail, to show that all the liquor has been drunk; hence, to the last drop, to the bottom.
1592Nashe P. Penilesse E 4 marg., Drinking super nagulum, a deuise of drinking new come out of Fraunce; which is, after a man hath turnd up the bottom of the cup, to drop it on his naile, & make a pearle with that is left; which, if it shed, & he cannot make stand on, by reason ther's too much, he must drinke againe for his pennance. c1600Timon ii. v. (1842) 38, I drinke this to thee super naculum. 1654Gayton Pleas. Notes iii. vi. 102 The whole school (I mean Schola Bibendi)..follow that way to a drop, which is called in the most authentick and emphaticall word they have, super naculum. 1678Dryden Limberham i. i, He drank thy health five times, supernaculum, to my son Brain⁓sick. 1728Ramsay To his Friends In Ireland 11 Drinking..bumpers fair out, Supernaculum but spilling. 1827Disraeli Viv. Grey vi. i, As he withdrew the horn from his mouth, all present..gave a loud cry of ‘Supernaculum!’ 1835Edinb. Rev. Oct. 41 Personages..drinking supernaculum out of grotesque goblets.
b. ellipt.
1664Cotton Scarron. i. 108 She set it to her Nose,..Until that she had supt it all in. Then turning't Topsey on her Thumb Says look, here's Super-naculum. 1739‘R. Bull’ tr. Dedekindus' Grobianus 180 Yours first turn topsy-turvy on your Thumb, And cry, behold! here's Supernaculum. [a1745W. Meston Poems (1767) 194 Sir, pull it off, and on your thumb Cernamus supernaculum.]
Comb.1622Massinger & Dekker Virg. Mart. ii. i. C iv b, Bacchus,..grand Patron of rob-pots, vpsie-freesie-tiplers, and super-naculam takers.
c. transf. and fig.
1598B. Jonson Case is Altered iv. iii. (1609) F 4 b, I confesse Cupids carouse, he plaies super negulum with my liquor of life. 1599Nashe Lenten Stuffe L 1 b, Not the lowsie riddle wherewith fishermen constrayned..Homer..to drowne hymselfe,..but should be dressed and set before you super⁓nagulum, with eight score more galliarde crosse poynts.
B. n.
1. A liquor to be drunk to the last drop; a wine of the highest quality; hence, anything excellent of its kind.
1704W. King Orpheus & Euridice 253, I saw some Sparks as they were Drinking, With mighty Mirth, and little thinking Their Jests were Supernaculum. 1760Foote Minor i. 43 Levant me, but it is supernaculum—Speak when you have enough. 1785Grose Dict. Vulg. T., Supernaculum, good liquor, of which there is not even a drop left sufficient to wet one's nail. 1804W. Blake Let. to W. Hayley 28 Dec., With our good Flaxman's good help, and with your remarks on it [sc. a portrait] in addition, I hope to make it a ‘super⁓naculum’. 1822Byron Werner i. i. 376 'Tis here! the super⁓naculum! twenty years Of age, if 'tis a day. 1895H. Watson in Chap-Bk. III. 490, I called for Burgundy—some of the right supernaculum.
2. A draught that empties the cup to the last drop; also, a full cup, a bumper.
1827Disraeli Viv. Grey. vi. i, One pull—a gasp—another desperate draught—it was done! and followed by a super⁓naculum almost superior to the exulting Asmanshausen's. 1845Lowell Eurydice 8 And empty to each radiant comer A supernaculum of summer.
Hence superˈnacular a. (of drink), excellent; also transf.
1848Thackeray Bk. Snobs xxxi, Some white hermitage at the Haws (by the way, the butler only gave me half a glass each time) was supernacular. 1920G. Saintsbury Notes on Cellar-bk. 18 Some of the finer kinds [of sherry] are really supernacular—the best ‘Tio Pepe’, for instance. 1958[see devadasi]. |